Always In Your Heart
by your royal highness
Summary: REPOST! PLEASE READ! IT HAS CHANGED! Alternate ESB Han was attacked by the Wampa, Not Luke. Leia decides to follow her heart and go out to find Han, which leads to something she and Han didn't even think of controlling. Han is a general in this one. HL


Luke came riding into the North Entrance on his Tauntaun. "Luke!" Leia cried, running over and hugging him. She had a big smile on her face, but that changed when she looked over Luke's shoulder and asked, "Where's Han?" Her eyebrows knitted together.

"Oh, He's checking out a meteorite that hit the ground, he said it won't take long." Leia smiled, but was still confused. She felt something. Something…well strange. Something that she couldn't really explain. But whatever it was, she got this sinking feeling that Han wasn't coming back.

After she and Luke had dinner, 3 hours later, she got worried. "Luke, where is Han?" She demanded.

"He probably came back and then just…um…went back to the Falcon." Luke said, fighting for his words.

"Without checking in?"

"Han sometimes does that…" Luke said, and his breathing got ragged. "He may still be out there looking at the meteorite." Something is definitely wrong here.

"For _three_ hours Luke? I'm going after him." Leia said, standing up.

"Leia, no. I'll go out after him! NO! LEIA!" Yet, through his desperate screaming, Leia ignored him and just walked out of the Mess Hall, running up to the deck officer.

"Deck Officer! Deck Officer!" Leia yelled, running towards him.

"Yes?" He asked, turning to her. "Has General Solo reported in yet?" He shook his head. "I haven't seen him. It's possible he came in through the South Entrance." He pointed towards the other entrance.

"It's _possible_?" Leia asked, an angry tone in her voice. "Why don't you go find out? It's getting dark out there." _Why am I acting like this? Why am I acting like…like Han?_

"Yes ma'am." He said, turning away, and running the opposite direction, towards the South Entrance. She groaned, and started to follow him, knowing that he didn't check in yet, and if he did, he probably would have talked to her about something… ahem… _fought_ with her about something.

There were a lot of people coming in on tauntauns, but none of them were Han. The deck officer that she had talked to came up to her. "Ma'am, General Solo hasn't reported in yet. He may have forgotten to check in."

"Not likely." Leia spat, gulping. Leia knew that Han forgot a lot of things, but she knew that he wouldn't forget something like checking in. She knew something was wrong. She reached over and grabbed some gloves, a scarf, and a jacket.

She was going out after him, no matter WHAT Luke said. "Are the speeders ready?" She asked him. "No, we're having some trouble adapting into the code." He said, but she walked away from him.

"Then I'll have to go out on Tauntauns!" She said desperately, looking around, and jumping on the back of one.

"Your highness! The temperature is dropping too rapidly!" Leia pointed at him. I'm not taking no for an answer.

"That's right. And my boy….um… friend… _just_ friend… is out in it." _Why did I almost say boyfriend? Han's not my __**boyfriend**_

"Your tauntaun will freeze before you reach the first marker!" He cried.

"Then I'll just have to look for him on foot, won't I?" She yelled back, riding out of the base. They all sighed.

"The girl has drive, I'll give her that." The Deck Officer said.

"Or that girl has a heart for Captain Solo." Another one said. Everyone agreed, and then got back to work.

"Hey!" Luke said, running up to the deck officer. "Do you know where Leia is?" The officer sighed. "Yes."

"Well where is she? I need to talk to her!" Luke said. "She went after Captain Solo."

"SHE DID WHAT?!?" Luke screamed.

"She went after Solo. Into the snow. About an hour ago." The deck officer spoke slowly, pronouncing every syllable.

"BUT I TOLD HER NOT TO!!!! UGH, DOESN'T THAT GIRL EVER LISTEN TO ME??" Luke said, holding his head in his hands and pacing across the floor.

"Luke, I hate to admit it, but we all think that she has a heart for General Solo, and General Solo only." He sighed, and then patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay, Luke. I'm sorry. I know you liked her." He said, walking away.

"That's not what I'm worried about." Luke started to mumble. "I'm worried whether she will die or not, and what happened to Han." He silently cursed, and then ran to go tell General Reeikan.

Leia Organa rode out to the first marker, and then hopped off of the tauntaun. The deck officer was right. It _was_ freezing out here. The cold artic wind was nipping at her parka, and she felt shivers go up and down her arms. Then, she heard a moan, and then she turned around, and her tauntaun fell down on the ground, dead cold, literally. Sighing, she grabbed the scanner out of the large pocket of her jacket. She scraped the snow off of it and used it to try to find Han. There seemed to be a small signal coming from a little bit away from her, maybe 400 feet. She started to run, the signal getting stronger and stronger.

Maybe it was Han!

In the snow, she saw a dark figure of a person laying on the ground, face in the snow. Han. Her heart beat faster as she ran up to him, squatting down next to him, taking his face in her hands. "Han! Talk to me! Han, please!" She brushed the snow off of his face, and carefully traced the freshly cut wounds on his face. "Han!!" She screamed even louder, shaking him to wake him up.

"HAN!!"

Luke Skywalker was very unhappy.

_Why couldn't that damn girl just let __**me**__ go after him?? Why does she even care about him? UGH!_

He was pacing in front of the Falcon with Chewie nearby, who was pretending to do some needed repairs to the hunk of junk. He too was obviously worried about his life-long friend, and the princess that kept Han's heart alive. The deck officer walked up to the two anxious friends.

"Luke, I'm sorry. There's nothing else we can do tonight, we'll have to close the doors." "NO! We must keep searching! They're my best friends!"

"I'm sorry Skywalker, the doors must be closed."

"Fine." He spat, and then banged his head on the Falcon while Chewie dropped the tool that he was holding.

The deck officer walked over to the man standing next to him and said, "Close the doors." The other man nodded, and pressed the buttons, the doors squeaking to a shut. Chewie moaned in sadness as the doors finally clamped together. Luke prayed that Han and Leia would be all right before getting ready to attempt to go to bed.

"Please, Han, wake up." She pleaded as she grabbed his hands and started to massage them, heating them up. They were turning a faint black.

_Oh no. Frostbite._

She looked around and found nothing that would wake him up. Then she thought of something. _Ew gross…_

She sighed and then held his chin in her hands, and leaned down, planting a small kiss on his lips.

He shot awake.

_I knew it._

"Leia." He said, stroking her face with one free hand. "What are you doing here?" She smiled.

"Saving you." Han sat up, and almost fell back, but Leia held him in her arms.

"What about Luke? He's probably worried sick about you." She smiled again, dragging him over to the tauntaun, grabbing 6 blankets out of one of the fully stuffed sacs, and wrapping them around her and Han. They scooted in as close as they could to each other, to attract body heat. "Wait, how come you came out to get me?" Han asked, talking prevented his cheeks from heating up.

"Because Han, I uh…um…" She couldn't tell him. She couldn't tell him the one thing she'd been trying to run away from.

The one thing that she had been trying to fight more then the empire itself.

Her love for him.

She couldn't tell him that she loved him.

"You what Leia?" Han asked, scooting in closer. She grabbed his hands in hers, warming them up.

"I need you. I could bear it if Luke died, but if _you_ died…. I don't think that I could take it." Leia admitted. He grinned like an idiot.

"I p-promise Leia, that I'll n-n-never do a-a-anything that w-w-w-would hurt you. Thank… Y-Y-Y-You L-L-Leia…" He said, before instantly falling asleep. Leia smiled. "I love you Han." She said, as she cuddled in closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder, and falling sleep too.

Speeders came to pick them up in the early morning, but Han and Leia weren't awake yet. Luke and 2 Deck officers ran out of the speeder, but then stopped.

Luke's mouth dropped wide open, at the sight of the two laying so close to each other in the snow, blankets wrapped around them, and Leia's head lying on Han's chest.

"Captain Solo? Princess Leia?" One of the deck officers asked, shaking Han's shoulder.

"NO! DON'T!" Luke screamed, wanting to admire the two sleeping instead of fighting for once, but Han and Leia abruptly sat up and blushed.

"Nice of you guys to drop by." Han said, getting up, and helping Leia pack the blankets. As Han was handing her one, she stopped and grabbed his arm. She pulled up his sleeve, and his arm was still black, maybe even darker then before.

Frostbite.

Tears almost came to her eyes.

"Come on, let's go." Leia mumbled, and dragged Han towards the speeder. Leia prayed that Han would be all right.

After all, she loved him.

They got to the sick bay, and Han was dropped off for tests. She admitted that he didn't look well at all. They put him in the Bacta Tank for a couple of hours, and then did some more medical tests. Finally, after about 8 hours of waiting, Leia was allowed to come in and see him. "How is he?" Leia asked, walking in and sitting down next to him.

"Um, we put him in the Bacta Tank, but that didn't really do anything for the frostbite. It did wonders for his face, all of the cuts are gone." Leia looked at his face. He was right, they were all gone. "But we don't think that we'll be able to cure the frostbite. He has such a bad case of it, that… he has a good chance of dying, and soon." Leia jumped up. "WHAT?!?" She screamed, running over to the man, shaking the doctor roughly by the shoulders. "THIS MAN….HE IS A WONDER TO THE ALLIANCE! HE…HE'S ONE OF THE BEST PILOTS!"

Luke appeared in the doorway. "Leia? What's going on? Is Han going to be all right."

"Not really." The doctor said.

"He'll probably die." Leia said, tears starting to form in her eyes. _Oh no. I'm NOT crying!_

Han's eyes fluttered, and he moaned and moved his head from side to side, waking up. "What happened?" He asked, his eyes halfway open. He only saw Luke and Leia standing there at the edge of his bed, standing too close together for his comfort.

A doctor walked over to him, and said, "I don't know the easiest way to say this… but we healed you scars on your face, but we couldn't heal the frostbite… and you may die."

Han heard Leia inhale sharply at the word 'die'.

"Die?" He repeated, leaning back onto the bed. "Die." He breathed. "I'm going to… _die_." "He said, MAY! So that means you still have a chance, Han!" Leia said, running over to him.

"And why do you care?" He asked, a smug smile on his face.

"No reason…" She said, and he leaned back against the bed pillows. "Bye. I'll come back later, okay?" She asked, and he nodded his head.

"Sure." He responded, coughing a painful cough as she walked out of the room.

_100h…._

Reports of Han had been coming back and forth to me for the past few hours.

He wasn't getting any better.

They kept the heat turned up really high in his room, but his frostbite had sadly gotten worse. It wasn't just the frostbite that was killing him, but it was also the amount of stress he had put on himself. On account of paying off Jabba, debating on whether to stay with the Alliance, and the fact that Leia was constitently yelling at him added up to the stress.

"Princess Leia Organa, please report to the sickbay immediately." The announcer rang out through the ice tunnels, rebounding off of the walls.

Leia ran down the corridors towards the sickbay.

When she reached the sickbay, she sighed and then walked into Han's room. "Yes?" She asked, and then realized that there was no one in sight.

She sighed again, and then walked over to where Han lay on the bed. He let out a cough, and his eyes were half open when Leia sat down onto the bed next to him.

"Han." She smiled at him, trying desperately to hold back her tears.

"Leia." He murmured, stroking her face.

"Please don't leave me." She said, letting one tear fall down her cheek.

"I'm sorry, Leia, but I can't help it." He coughed, and then fell down onto the bed, letting his hand drop like a bullet onto his chest.

"No! Han! Don't leave me! PLEASE! I need you!" Leia let the tears rapidly flow down her cheeks.

"Goodbye……R-Rem..ember….I'll….a-a-a…always…be…..in…..your…..heart." He touched her chest, and Leia grabbed his wrist tightly.

"Han! Stay with me!" She cried. He faintly smiled, and then turned his head, and closed his eyes for the last time.

**So I sort of changed it…but not that much. It's easier to read though, and the characterization was different.**

**So if you read this again, and you want to review it again, please PM me instead!**

**Thanks!**

**Alexandra**


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